The first Service Computation Date is your SCD Civilian. This date is very straightforward- it is the day you walked in to your department’s HR branch and commenced employment as a federal employee. This date will stay the same unless you have a break in employment in the federal civil service. SCD Civilian is used to calculate benefits such as your FERS life insurance payout formula, which is a gratis life insurance benefit (NOT FEGLI) provided to all FERS employees. I will cover this benefit in a future post.

The second Service Computation Date is the one you are used to seeing once every pay period in the upper right hand corner of your Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) if you work for the Department of Defense. This is SCD Leave, used to calculate your accrual of Annual Leave. Accrual rates for annual leave increase based on years of service calculated from SCD Leave. If you are former active military NOT drawing retired pay from active duty, SCD Leave will be ‘back dated’ based on the years and months of service shown on your DD-214. There are special cases where SCD Leave CAN ALSO be back dated for former active duty who ARE drawing retired pay, and I will cover these in a future post.

The third Service Computation Date is SCD RIF. This is the date you will be eligible for early retirement from the FERS system if you are offered an early retirement package like VERA (Voluntary Early Retirement Authority) for an agency-wide reduction or RIF (Reduction if Force) if your employing agency decides to cut your individual position. Under either of these, if you meet the time-in-service requirements you may retire early with full benefits (FEHB health care and a FERS immediate annuity). If you are a veteran who performed a FERS ‘military buyback’ credit for your active duty service, your SCD RIF and SCD Leave should match. It is critical that you verify these dates match after you make a ‘military buyback’ deposit.

Did your ‘favorite’ airline lose the contract this year between your most frequently traveled City Pair? No need to fret about orphaning frequent flyer miles if you roll like I do.

I’ve been in the same boat- In some cases, I’d earn elite status on United in an even year, and then be forced to fly American (without status) for almost every trip during the following odd year. The miles I was accruing towards status were nearly useless.

Then I discovered a bit of a workaround. Alaska’s program – Mileage Plan– lets you accrue Alaska miles when you fly Alaska, AA, Delta, or British Airways. For the past two years whenever I fly AA or Delta I hand or type in my Alaska frequent flyer code for a tripple whammy- miles banked one-for-one on Alaska, my Alaska elite status is recognized 100% on AA and Delta (check-in, booking, and bag allowance), and I don’t really have to worry about who wins which City Pair contracts next Fiscal Year.

Elite Status is your only ticket to a decent seat unless you meet the above criteria.

The only major carriers who do not partner with Alaska are Southwest and United, so hang on to those cards if you still have them. But if your ‘favorite’ airline lost the bid on your frequently traveled city pair this year, you don’t have to rack up miles that will be essentially ‘orphaned’- give Alaska’s Mileage Plan a try!

After having some back problems a little over a year ago, I switched to ‘barefoot’ style footwear after reading the 4 Hour Body. I’ll never wear ‘high heels’ again for walking or running!

After trying a few minimalist/barefoot styles (Sanuk among others), I’ve become a fan of Olukai shoes for their comfort and durability- the only drawback is the price.

A fellow Fed saw my shoes and asked where I bought them. This pair I had bought at REI because I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

He mentioned to try GovX.com for a ~40% discount. What a great site! They have all kinds of stuff there, from Alpinestars to Zamst. Eligibility for GovX is open to Feds, Active Military, and Vets.

If you have a current .mil email address, use it for instant registration (don’t worry, you only give the .mil address for registration- you can still give your webmail address for communication. I did and have not been spammed by GovX yet). If you don’t have a .mil address there is a method to upload a copy of your DD214 to gain access to their catalog.